Sneeky Snake

Did you catch the snake?

I have not touched a HO policy in years and some vary state by state. I do recall reptiles are not covered by your policy but check first. Contents are normally on a named peril basis. If there is no peril for such, no coverage. Even when something looks like it is covered, the exclusions take it away. Sorry.

Snakes... why did it have to be snakes?

had a 6' Rat Snake come in for some warmth on my old network gear about 8 years ago. They have a rattle that buzzes. No sharp teeth, but they are one of the more aggressive snakes out there. They'll bite you just because...called the County Animal Control to remove it.

No, it didn't get to the train room - remained in the mechanical area.

I then went on a maximum hole sealing program

Snakes...why did it have to be snakes?

Hmmm...not heard of a snake before that mimics rattlesnakes, which, in Texas, I'd be glad did not invade the train area.  

colorado hirailer posted:

Hmmm...not heard of a snake before that mimics rattlesnakes,   

Oh yes. There was a black snake last year that I taught my two favorite dog tricks. It was imitating a rattle with it's tail in the dry leaves. In addition to the rattlesnake impersonation, it was also acting like a cobra; all coiled-up holding his head up in an aggressive strike position.

I taught it to play "catch" with the snake shot from my .357 and then taught it to "play dead". The snake was a very fast learner.

FWIW,  I leave docile snakes alone. If it wants to act like a poisonous snake, it will be treated like a poisonous snake.

Oklahoma....How far in that from Ontario???  Yikes . Keep'em down there.

Uh, I have read that there are a few timber rattlers and other poisonous snakes in Canada, too, although not in great numbes.  Dunno about Alaska, but the way the grizzlies forage on the ground, I'd bet on the grizzlies.

Snakes are great and they keep your layouts rodent free!

First, no, did not catch the snake, it went down the stairs and back outside.  Yes, it could have been worse (like when my grandson pulled the 3rd Rail cab forward off the taller layout in Houston, years ago) and the damage is fixable.  Oh, I forgot to mention the PW Lionel Mercury Launch car the snake knocked off, resulted in broken handrails.  Yes, we know about the snakes.  They come up from the creek running behind our property and seek out the eggs our ducks lay around the pond.  But, we do not mind the snakes (so long as they stay out-of-doors) and they do keep rodents down, in coordination with the cats, also keep the chance of venomous snakes lower. And, certain the snake is NOT in the room due to my cat buddies performed a complete inspection and sniff test of the room, with negative results.  Yes, have seen Black snakes, Hog snakes, Chicken snakes, Rat snakes and a harmless common water snake in the pond.  Until now, the most they did was eat an occasional duck egg or help keep the fish from becoming too populace in our pond.  Yes, I do know it can not be covered by insurance.  This is not considered an act of God or due to inclement weather.  And, so far, I have not missed anything gone the snake may have taken with, so, no chance of filling for theft of property.  So, just have to look around and locate the Lionel PW items damaged in the snakes investigation and inspection of the Train Room at a shop or show to replace in collection.  All in all, could have been very so much worse than it was.  And, an interesting event to remember and proceed from here with upgrades to security and prevention measures, along with the already installed alarms and cameras.

Jesse   TCA

Wow! Sorry about that one. Until now I always liked the rat snakes since they keep the rattle snakes and rodents in check. 

I knew the snake would prefer Lionel over MTH.

Professor Chaos posted:

Snakes... why did it have to be snakes?

ed h posted:

Professor Chaos posted:

Snakes...

 

Haha, maybe some day his owners will route Fang via the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway Company.  

Jesse, I feel your pain.  Probably you are lucky that he also did not defecate in a tunnel (or even take up residence in one during daylight).

Back when I was at Sweetwater, we used to have 4 or 5 diamondback rattlesnakes throughout each year, who would decide that the depot platform was a good place to lie and stay warm.  We had a den of them in the cut on the opposite side of the yard, directly across from the depot.  I had a limo driver and a signal maintainer who always had snake hooks and a bucket handy (They collected snakes for the annual Rattlesnake Roundup) and I always had one or the other of them close enough to catch the snake.  I had to chase a couple away from the depot door, but left the catching to those who enjoy it.  Out in the yard, the snakes were on their own, and crews always looked inside both rails before coupling a pair of air hoses or stepping in to adjust a coupler.

When I saw the post title this was the first thing that popped in my head. Haven't thought about this song for years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdEEpialxqk

This is one of many things I do not miss from my upbringing in the deep south.

I really have no problems with snakes and they don't bug me. But I did get tired of constantly looking at the ground when I walked in the woods anywhere for concern I'd step on one that'd bite me. I've seen plenty of poisonous snakes (even coral snakes on two occasions) in my years in Florida. None ever got into the house, the closest was the baby mountain king snake that got into the back porch. Poor Mom almost had a stroke when that happened. I woke to her screaming, and still half asleep, grabbed an axe and went vegamatic on the thing. Chopped it into tiny snake bits. I still feel bad about that as it wasn't poisonous and was just a tiny little snake, but Mom was just fine with that.

Gilly out of all the above, you had the best snake... Dead.

Tom,   Yes, have been to a couple of the Sweetwater Rattle Snake Roundups, along with the trips there to go fishing as we knew of a good "lake" for it, better than what there was in Midland.  When I was 12, living in my hometown of Midland, came across a bed of what I thought were earthworms under a rock.  Managed to catch one, then saw the forked tongue.  Kept it for a month or so in a gallon jar with cheese cloth lid, fed raw ground meat and insects.  It would coil and shake end of it's tail, began to show markings in skin, from the little red colored snake I captured.  Used a tooth pick to hold mouth open and clipped fangs with toe nail clippers when they grew back.  But, it got out one Saturday and I stepped on it in the kitchen when it fell out of my jeans and down my leg.  Nothing more than a grease spot on the linoleum after that..........

Along with the scorpions, tarantulas and snakes, large red and black ants......    Played with them all growing up in West Texas desert area... yes, played with them, and got bit by them all one time or another.  Anyone remember them opening scene of The Magnificent Seven?  The Mexican kids playing on the ground... fire and ants/scorpion?  That was fine entertainment when a kid on the street where I grew up, and helped to rid yards of nests of pests.  Now, as an adult, life is under a new microscope and I still respect all God's creatures, within reason and purpose.  However, when they do need to be controlled, there are various ways of doing so, capture and release being the best option.  But, as the attached shows, other means can be a necessary alternative to protect the domesticated flocks.  Not a good idea to use rifle when targeting snakes in the water.........

Jesse    TCA

I ran around in the woods as a kid, and only once while leaping over a hummock, did I see a snake speeding under me (which probably heard our pounding feet).  It was very good training (looking at the ground) for when I got out of my car in the Texas panhandle and started to walk around to the other side.  Looking at the ground revealed a sidewinder doing just that (heading my direction in rapid S curves).  I jumped back in the car and pulled onto a concrete median with a good clean, clear view of the ground.

texastrain posted:

Along with the scorpions, tarantulas and snakes, large red and black ants......    Played with them all growing up in West Texas desert area... yes, played with them, and got bit by them all one time or another.  Anyone remember them opening scene of The Magnificent Seven?  The Mexican kids playing on the ground... fire and ants/scorpion?  

Tarantulas? Count me out! That's one of the things utterly hated about all the time I spent in deserts (courtesy of Uncle Sam), was everything out there had to be ugly and nasty to survive.

In September of 2012, my wife and I did a cross-country sightseeing trip from my parent's place in Florida back to the Pacific NW. We were headed generally toward Las Vegas, NM and going to Chama the next day to ride the narrow gauge there, and we each saw a tarantula which was each bigger than my hand. Neither of us saw the one the other saw, but we each had the same experience, to see one slowly crossing the road, so big we each could see individual legs moving for a couple of seconds before I ran it over at over 50MPH. Neither of us slept well at the hotel that night.

I hate spiders but my wife is downright mortified by them, not that I can blame her much. I understand that we probably came up on the tail end of the tarantula migration which occurs about that time of year. I've heard stories about masses of them all moving the same direction, covering the ground. Oh, HECK NO!

On a stateside training exercise, a poor soldier of mine awoke from sleeping under a MEMMT fuel tanker to a tarantula sunning itself on his cheek. The kid went stark raving mad after we'd gotten it off his face and ten of us went "La Coocaracha" all over the eight-legged freak of nature. We had to have him restrained and sent to the looney bin back at the post for a few days. I never questioned his reaction as waking up to the sight of a tarantula's face and fangs an inch from your eye is more than most people have in them and stay sane afterward.

Oh, and FYI, the scene you mentioned was from the start of the movie, "The Wild Bunch"

I can handle pretty much anything but I'm out when it comes to snakes and spiders. 

I had a small snake in my pond once, years ago. Never had once since. Actually, I can handle a snake to about  a foot to maybe 15" in length. Bigger than that, I'm going to get a flamethrower! I don't think I'd give burning down the house a second thought if one was ever in the house!

We saw them a lot on the park railroad, the black rat snakes. Huge suckers, excellent climbers. They will imitate rattlesnakes but are totally harmless. They'd sometimes fall out of the ceiling of our shop when closing the doors (would lay on the doors for the heat). I saw them occasionally on the track sunning themselves. Usually the vibrations would scare 'em off. I never hit one but I know several guys that chopped a few up. I came in one day in the winter (we ran April - October), no one had been on the property, let alone in the buildings for a while. I was in our station and could smell the musk from one. Didn't see it but I suspected it was in the ceiling. I let the maintenance staff know and that was the last I heard of it. Had plenty of snake sh*t on the locomotives in the mornings. I had, what looked like, a baby copperhead curled up around my leaf blower when I dug it out one morning. Didn't actually notice it until I started yanking the pull cord to start it. We tossed him back into the woods. 

I sent a few to  snakes to snake heaven When I was in Southern Cal, one nasty one was the Mohave Green, the most deadly snake in the country, 

Snake shot is a beautiful thing!

Meet the green death.

P51... yes, The Wild Bunch!!    Thank you, sir, for the input......   I always thought it funny when people in the audience would squeal and talk about the cruel Mexican kids... doing what I did as a youngster in Midland!  It all depends where you are and what the environment offers.  I remember being a Boy Scout in Midland and on one campout we were all woke up by the scorpions coming out at night.  Never saw a couple dozen boys running barefoot and climbing up on pickups and cars so darn quick!  When we shone our flashlights over the ground, it literally looked like snow that was moving.  Nothing but hundreds of curved tails in the air and moving in every direction at once.  But, nobody got bit and we had to do our best of sleeping on hoods and trunks, not rolling off in your sleep.  No trace of the critters in the morning, other than the disarray of sleeping bags and tossed backpacks, all of which were thoroughly checked and dumped before being repacked.  It is/was always a **** good habit of checking your boots in the morning before inserting your foot...... still do that in Oklahoma, my wife killed a tarantula last week... the ducks ate it.

Jesse    TCA

Who said this forum isn't educational?  I had never heard of a "Mohave green", and I have wandered around in ghost towns and old mines in its territory.  I think snake boots are in order.  I researched it on the net, and found it is indeed probably the most lethal of assorted unfriendly reptiles, including the coral snake, in this country.    I had thought the coral snake was a southwestern desert snake, and got corrected on that visiting a South Carolina plantation where the guide mentioned them and said he preferred them to the snow and cold up north (to each his own).  As for tarantulas, I had long heard they don't bite often or have a severe one, and that kids make pets of them.

Entering a siding phone booth in the middle of the night with a first generation radio (heavy Big Awkward) could be a scary thing.  There was a Squelch button for fine tuning which sounds a lot  like static .

 Crew member...." turn your radio off. I can't hear the  dispatcher"

Other crew member..." It is"     " let me out of here".

Yep a few rattlers in Ontario but most hospitals are prepared with the  anti -venom.

colorado hirailer posted:

Who said this forum isn't educational?  I had never heard of a "Mohave green", and I have wandered around in ghost towns and old mines in its territory.  I think snake boots are in order.  I researched it on the net, and found it is indeed probably the most lethal of assorted unfriendly reptiles, including the coral snake, in this country.    I had thought the coral snake was a southwestern desert snake, and got corrected on that visiting a South Carolina plantation where the guide mentioned them and said he preferred them to the snow and cold up north (to each his own).  As for tarantulas, I had long heard they don't bite often or have a severe one, and that kids make pets of them.

Yup, the Mojave rattler, and I think the Tiger rattler are the continents most deadly. Probably followed by the various Diamondbacks, the Coral snake is pretty bad too. There was a gentleman on here (I think his name was Dave). He was from Australia, I think he has posted about the pythons down there before on here. At least we don't have to worry about the snakes him and and his fellow countrymen have to worry about running into!

Bill

colorado hirailer posted:

Who said this forum isn't educational?  I had never heard of a "Mohave green", and I have wandered around in ghost towns and old mines in its territory.  

Yep, that was a new one to me, too.

As for tarantulas, I had long heard they don't bite often or have a severe one, and that kids make pets of them.

What kind of sick kid would want to be anywhere near one of those, is beyond me. I never met any kids that would have done that.

Kids will play with anything.  Once the kid next door was out in the cul-de-sac with a sort of fat, sluggish snake, playing with it in a cardboard box, and I am looking at its head wondering if it is wide at the back with venom sacs, and asked, "Where did you get THAT!" He said, "Down by the river." Obviously being no herpteologist, I am thinking, "Are we too far north for water moccasins?  Where is your dad? I don't like the look of that."  Pythons are constrictors, but Australia, from what I read, has about a dozen really bad news venomous snakes, such as the "Tiger snake", and the "Tai-pan".  And I will take tarantulas over brown recluse and black widows here, but those are sissies next to Australia's Sydney jumping spider (think about that name for a moment if you don't like spiders), and the red back spider.  Saw a TV show with that Columbus, Ohio zoo director where he was exploring Australia's, uh, colorful, creatures, and they saw one of the above snakes on a trail.  I laughed because he really gave it a really wide berth, and he deals with all kinds of critters.  I figured knowledge was power and he knew what he was doing.

colorado hirailer posted:

Kids will play with anything.  Once the kid next door was out in the cul-de-sac with a sort of fat, sluggish snake, playing with it in a cardboard box, and I am looking at its head wondering if it is wide at the back with venom sacs, and asked, "Where did you get THAT!" He said, "Down by the river." Obviously being no herpteologist, I am thinking, "Are we too far north for water moccasins?  Where is your dad? I don't like the look of that."  Pythons are constrictors, but Australia, from what I read, has about a dozen really bad news venomous snakes, such as the "Tiger snake", and the "Tai-pan".  And I will take tarantulas over brown recluse and black widows here, but those are sissies next to Australia's Sydney jumping spider (think about that name for a moment if you don't like spiders), and the red back spider.  Saw a TV show with that Columbus, Ohio zoo director where he was exploring Australia's, uh, colorful, creatures, and they saw one of the above snakes on a trail.  I laughed because he really gave it a really wide berth, and he deals with all kinds of critters.  I figured knowledge was power and he knew what he was doing.

The 2 snakes you mentioned the Tiger snake and the Taipan, they're 2 of the top 5 most venomous in the world! Sometime in March or April a snake "wrangler" caught a Taipan, it struck at him. It was only able to graze his arm, a fang broke his skin and you probably couldn't even call the little bit of venom that came out a microdrop. They're so toxic that that little bit of venom was enough to do him in. The man died.

Bill

A news item I saw mentioned a sports guy on an Australian golf course (can't believe he was a native Aussie) who picked up a snake and carried it off the green.  The snake bit him, one of their "milder" species, but the guy then went jogging, with no medical attention,  and pumped the venom through his body with expected results.  I have never been to Australia, but they haven't printed enough money for me to pick up a snake in Australia. (or anywhere else where I don't know what it is)

Gregg posted:

Entering a siding phone booth in the middle of the night with a first generation radio (heavy Big Awkward) could be a scary thing.  There was a Squelch button for fine tuning which sounds a lot  like static .

 Crew member...." turn your radio off. I can't hear the  dispatcher"

Other crew member..." It is"     " let me out of here".

Haha, I love that.  You two were probably just blurs as you exited the phone booth.  I'd have been fighting you to be first out the door if I were there.

As to Mojave rattlesnakes, I lived with them for nine years on the Needles District, and they are not only extremely poisonous, but they are about the most aggressive rattlesnakes anywhere.  Most rattlers will move away if you stand still, but not Mojave rattlers.  They'll advance toward you.  Fortunately, they are not numerous.  But there are enough of them to be a real consideration if you are ever in the California desert.

Once, our Needles West track supervisor saw one lying by the rail as he passed on his track car.  He backed up to kill it, and while he was getting his shovel out of the tool box, the snake came up into the motor track car with him.  He got out fast and had to kill it on the floor of the track car.

My Dad hated snakes.  He always told us that there were two kinds of snakes: poisonous snakes and dead snakes.

Dad and I were mushroom hunting along the old PRR Ft. Wayne Line tracks shortly after the formation of Conrail.  There were piles of new ties spread along the right-of-way for much needed track maintenance.  As a train approached, we walked toward the ROW fence.  At the bottom of the ditch we encountered a garter snake about 18" long.  My Dad about s*** himself.  We were trapped between a freight train and (according to him) an anaconda.  The resulting adrenaline rush allowed him to  pick up a new railroad tie and and throw it at the obviously aggressive man eating viper.  Not only did he hit the snake, but he proceeded to pick the tie up again and pile drive what was left of the evil reptile.  (I think this was more to send a message to other snakes in the area than to make sure that the intended target was indeed incapacitated.)  Afterward, he told me that only one of them was going to come out of that encounter alive, and he was going to make darn sure it was him.

I wonder how I got my disdain for snakes?

Tom 

texastrain posted:

 My post war #68 Inspection Car, once on a display shelf, was laying in pieces on the floor.  Height of the fall was 86 inches, and the 56 yr plus plastic body did not survive too well.  

Jesse   TCA     

So sorry this happened, Jesse.

I used to have my scratchbuilt rolling stock on a shelf just below the ceiling. I just took it all down a few weeks ago. We are long overdue for an earthquake around here....

TexasTrains,

Really sorry to read about your mishap but what a story (and thread)!  Regarding southern vs. northern critters, we have rattlesnakes in parts of Massachusetts but fortunately I don't live in one of those parts anymore.  I may have had a minor mishap with a mouse gnawing on the roof of my steam engine. That's my theory anyway. Luckily, it is barely noticeable.  Mice don't scare me but they have the most disgusting house manners, and my layout sits on the floor right at their disgusting little mouse level.

Best of luck finding a good replacement for your inspection car.

Tomlinson Run Railroad (where the mice think they have the right of way)